NY Labor Department team helps job seekers

It's called the Mobile Reemployment Response Team, and it's part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's effort to help the long-term unemployed.

The services include resume writing and interviewing, skills matching, along with tailored job leads and training-opportunity counseling, according to the state.  

Eric Jones was among the job seekers attending the event, and says he spoke with a job counselor.

"Trying to increase my chance of getting employment, and I see they had ... a resume critique type of system... I'm here to increase my chances of getting employed," Jones says.

And it wasn't the only service Jones took advantage of, he says.

"The job analysis basically gives you an outlook of popular jobs in the area," he added.

Jones says he would like to find work in the criminal justice area... The state is offering this service at venues across New York.

The Response Team is part of an initiative the governor's office announced on September 18.

To help New Yorkers seeking jobs, the state will distribute $6 million in federal grants to companies that hire long-term unemployed individuals, as well as a mobile-response team to assist individuals seeking work in high unemployment areas.

The $6 million in federal grants will provide wage subsidies to businesses that hire a new employee.  Cuomo has directed the state Department of Labor and Empire State Development to work with local work force development agencies to promote the available federal training dollars in every region of the state. 

"The administration will partner with employers which used these grants in the past to hire long-term unemployed workers as a way to promote to proven record of job creation this type of funding can bring," the governor's office press release said.